Cooling Your Vintage Vette - Part 3

Installing Vintage Air A/C In A Midyear Coupe

OK, we're back, and we're pretty well into the project. The ducting is installed, as is the condenser and drier, and we just finished mounting the compressor and belt. Now it's time to finish the plumbing and electrical connections, charge the system, and-hopefully-enjoy some nice, cool air in the cabin of this '67 big-block bad boy. Let's get right to it.

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Back inside the passenger compartment, it's time to finalize the electrical connections. This lavender wire is the key-on power lead that connects to a 5-amp fused source-in this case, the radio fuse.

Here's how the controls operate:The system is off, with both knobs pushed in and the fan speed switch (left knob) rotated to the full counter-clockwise position.

For A/C, both knobs are pushed in, and the fan speed switch is rotated clockwise to low, medium, or high positions.

For heat, the left knob is pulled out, and the fan speed switch is rotated clockwise for low, medium, or high positions.

For defrost, the left knob is pulled out, and the fan speed switch is rotated for low, medium, or high speeds. The heat/defrost knob (right side) is pulled out as well.

The thermostat control (under the dash on the passenger side) controls the overall output temperature of the system.

Well, that wraps it up. If you have a midyear and you want the comforts of air conditioning that looks like a factory installation, check out the kits from Vintage Air.

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